> Steve Bertrand wrote:
> ...
>> while ($buf = <FILE>) {
>> # $buf now contains line of file, one per each loop of while
>> $buf =~ /(\w+)/;
>> $userName = $1;
>> ...do something with $userName
>> }
>
> This is a common error. You should not use $1 without making sure the
> regex
> did in fact match. Otherwise, $1 will have whatever value it
> previously had.
This is precisely why I joined this list. Although a very small
oversight, potentially a very dangerous one within 500 lines of code
:o)
> You need to do something like:
>
> if ($buf =~ /(\w+)/) {
> $userName = $1;
> ...
> }
>
> ...
>> Now, to answer the remaining questions. =~ is the 'pattern match'
>> operator. It's what actually fetches the first word pattern (user).
>> Likewise, !~ says 'do not match'.
>
> Well, techincally, the m// is the pattern (regex) match operator.
>
> =~ is used to "bind" the regex match to a scalar other than $_.
Thank you for the clarification.
Steve
>
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